Dragan M. Babovic is a photographer with a very interesting philosophy behind his work. Over everything else, he emphazises the communication between the photographer and the viewer. This is evident in his most appreciated photograph, with the well suited name "Life is beautiful". 

Nikon D200, ISO 100, focal lenth 34mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, Nikkor 18-200mm

CONTEXT

The photo was taken in the early morning at the beautiful sea door of Boka Kotorska (Adriatic Sea in Montenegro). This family ran merrily through the shallow water. The figures are constantly changing position and I anticipated, and awaited, their proper alignment. The good and proper arrangement of the figures gives the picture a perfect harmony in the free space. It was not difficult to give it a name - "Life is beautiful".

With each photograph it is like the photographer shouts: “See this!” and someone looking at the photograph should be able to say: “I have seen it”. This photo carries a message that many of my photographs do – a human body’s language is an universal language that everyone understands. Looking at other peoples figures, we see different characters. Every silhouette does something different, because each and everyone of them are on their own path of destiny. The photographers task is to find a story in the body talk, and the spectators task is to recognize themselves and their destiny in that story.

PROCESSING

The photo was taken in jpeg format and then processed in Photoshop CS5. I cloned some disturbing elements like a boat, a little island, a head and a splash of water that had remained behind the other girls legs. I cut the picture and concentrated the attention on the people. This was done to make the image pure in expression.

HINTS

- You should always be close to your object. Take a good look around you, because you might see  
  something even more interesting. Try to see and record something that others don’t see. 

- When taking a picture of something that has been photographed by many,  find your unique angle. Take a   
  wider angle around your main object since you can always cut out unnecessary parts. 

- Story, composition and inner expression are much more important than sharpness. I stick to the rules of
  Henri Cartier-Bresson: "What reinforces the content of a photograph is the sense of rhythm – the
  relationship between shapes and values." 

- In photoshop I only crop, clone the disturbing parts of the photograph, and emphasize the main object by
  changing dark and lighter parts of the photograph. 

- The main rule: Passion that you have while taking a photo will be passed on to the ones looking at it later.  
  It is all about the transfer of energy.

Biography

Dragan M. Babovic was born in Serbia 1954. He is an amateur photographer and work professionally as a self employed lawyer. Photography has been his favorite hobby for a very long time. His work has been published extensively and has won him awards in several photo contests. "The beautiful life" was chosen to advertise the Serbian photo magazine Reofoto and published on billboards all over Belgrade.